My Brother the Devil, Cert 15, 111 mins - review

Hardcore award-winning film based in east London explores homosexuality within the gangland culture
20 November 2012

Adorned with awards from Berlin, Sundance and the London Film Festival, Hackney resident Sally El Hosaini’s debut feature starts off like a distinctly superior version of gangland thrillers where violent death and mumbling patois are never far away.

Halfway through, however, it turns into something entirely different — a courageous stab at telling us what might well happen if homosexuality was added to the mix.

“I’d rather my brother was a terrorist than a homo,” says Fady Elsayed’s Mo, a young British Egyptian who is constantly prevented by Rashid, his elder brother (James Floyd), from joining him as a drug dealer.

The mixed-race Hackney gang (DMG, standing for drugs, money and guns) beckons but “bro” won’t have his sibling follow in his footsteps.

Then he (and we) suddenly discover that though Rashid has a girlfriend, he is in fact gay and embarking on an affair with Said Taghmaoui’s photographer. Mo’s world collapses and so does Rashid’s when the parents and gang members find out. This is beyond the pale.

While Rashid’s seemingly sudden conversion to the gay life is not fully worked out, and comes as a slightly unconvincing turn of events, El Hosaini’s skill as a director, and her way with an excellent cast, eventually triumphs.

This is not just your ordinary realist gangland saga but dips its toes into deeper waters about character, motives and background.

Floyd’s performance is outstanding and points to many more starring roles, though one hopes Hollywood doesn’t get to him too early. But Elsayed is equally good as the tentative Mo, who wants to live life to the full but doesn’t know how.

There isn’t a single poor performance among the cast, nor are there many moments when the film doesn’t feel authentic, and it is beautifully shot by David Raedeker.

A triumph for all concerned.

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